by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

If the NBA schedule makers would have used their Jeremy Lin marketing minds this season like they so often did in the last, then Tuesday night's game between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets would have come just a little bit earlier.

What better way to commemorate the official start of "Linsanity" than to have him come home against the Warriors?

Alas, Feb. 4 - and not Feb. 12 - was the anniversary. Still, what a year (and eight days) it has been.

Lin, who was just days away from likely being cut yet again by the New York Knicks just as he had been by the Warriors and Rockets before, came in off the bench against the New Jersey Nets on Feb. 4, 2012 after riding the pine for coach Mike D'Antoni's the five weeks before. Thirty-six minutes, 25 points, seven assists and one win later, the most memorable underdog story in recent league history had begun.

Lin, who attended Palo Alto High School before heading off to Harvard and his undrafted path to the NBA, was a Development League regular while with the Warriors. In the rare times he saw the Oracle Arena floor, the low-key Taiwanese-American was the center of so much uncomfortable attention, in part, because of the strong Asian-American influence in the region. Proud fans would chant his name late in games and beg then-Warriors coach Keith Smart to put him in during garbage time, and Lin would often look flustered by the disproportionate focus on him for those brief stretches.

By the time he was gone and found himself facing the Warriors for the first time while with the Knicks, the chants were gone but his lack of playing time remained. Just one day after signing with the Knicks, he made his only visit home in a regular-season opener on Dec. 28, 2011 and the final footnote in that night's Associated Press story said it all: "Former Golden State guard Jeremy Lin, who signed with the Knicks on Tuesday, entered the game late in the fourth quarter and missed his only shot attempt."

One minute he was playing, well, one minute. And the next, it was 15 minutes â?? and much, much more â?? of fame.

But Lin and the Rockets have far more important matters to focus on come Tuesday night, and that's as good a sign as any that much has transpired in these last twelve-plus months. Lin, who signed the Rockets' three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet in the summer that wasn't matched by the Knicks, is no longer seen as a savior but a respected basketball player who, at 24 years old, is still looking to grow his game. He's a worthy sidekick to new Rockets star James Harden, the two of them trying to lead Houston to the playoffs for the first time since 2009. Reunions and such, he made clear, are not his concern at the moment.

"I'm going to go home, spend time with my family and people who are really close to me and then play the game and treat it like business," he told USA TODAY Sports.

The business side has never been the challenge for Lin, though, as his international appeal has led to the sort of off-court opportunities typically reserved for the league's biggest stars. His popularity nearly led to his latest moment of uncomfortable acclaim, as he was within range of eclipsing MVP candidate Chris Paul of the Clippers in All-Star voting and becoming a starter despite averaging just 12.5 points (on 44% shooting), 6.1 assists and 2.9 turnovers per game (Lin will participate in the Skills competition, however).

The basketball side is where he's been challenged this year, as Lin and Harden are both adjusting to their new basketball lives. The Rockets (28-25), who fell at Sacramento on Sunday night and play at the Clippers on Wednesday before the break, are currently in eighth place in the Western Conference.

"It's different for me; definitely different for me in terms of the city (and) polar opposite in terms of the city (compared to New York)," Lin said. "I'm enjoying it here. We're a young team with a lot of growing to do, and we're trying to mature as quickly as we can."